The present invention relates to a bed frame construction and, more particularly, to a system used with a bed frame to attach the side rails to a headboard and/or a footboard.
In general, a common bed frame system consists of a headboard and a footboard that are connected by two side rails that support the mattress and the box spring. While there may be differing ways to affix the side rails to the headboard and footboard, one of the most common is to bolt the side rails to the footboard and headboard or to assembly the side rail to the footboard and headboard with the use of a set of vertically space apart hooks that extend outward from the ends of the side rails and which enter vertically disposed slots formed in the headboard and footboard. Within each of the slots there are located a set of transversely located pins that cross the slots and are securely mounted in the headboard and footboard. Thus, with the pin and hook system, the hooks enter the slots and hook over the pins to secure the side rails to the headboard and the footboard.
There are disadvantages of both of these known systems. With the bolt-on system, there is the difficulty in assembling a number of separate parts at a time and the need to utilize, and therefore require, a tool or tools to carryout the bolting procedure. It would be more advantageous to have a system that would be effective to affix the side rail to the headboard and footboard without the need for any tools by the assembler. As to the hook and transverse pin system, the connection is subject to loosening and which can allow the headboard and footboard to rock and, therefore, not create a lasting solid connection. In addition, with the use of hooks, if the user attempts to lift the bed frame by raising the side rails, those side rails will become disconnected as they lift out of the engagement with the headboard or footboard. It is not possible, therefore to readily lift the bed frame itself by grasping and raising the side rail and that technique is otherwise a very convenient way to lift the bed frame.
A fairly recent example of the hook and pin type of system to affix the side rail to a headboard and footboard is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,460 B1 of Mitchell where a specially designed fastener is disclosed that can be used with the traditional system, however, the hooking arrangement is unchanged and there is no system shown in Mitchell to better affix the hooks to the pins so as to eliminate the eventual rocking problem.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a system that can be used to affix a side rail to a headboard and/or a footboard that provides a solid connection and which forcefully affixes the side rail in its desired affixed position to the headboard and footboard without the need for any tools in carrying out that affixation and after completion of the connection, where the bed frame can be lifted for moving that bed frame by grasping and raising the side rails.